


the roar of a dragon

by AbsoluteTempest



Category: Cardfight!! Vanguard, Promare (2019)
Genre: Gen, mad burnish 0kumi kind of, promare AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-11-23 06:43:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20887817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbsoluteTempest/pseuds/AbsoluteTempest
Summary: Kai meets someone that burns brighter than his own flames.(no movie spoilers)





	the roar of a dragon

**Author's Note:**

> I stumbled out of theater on Tuesday vibrating and my first AU thought was mad burnish 0kumi so this has been my baby the past two days.
> 
> This AU shares the setting of promare but that's it so there's no obvious spoilers. However, it might help to watch the two short OVAs that are floating around the internet for a general idea.
> 
> Please enjoy!

He remembers that day clearly, the day where he burnt away like a phoenix and rose anew.

In a cramped apartment, in a place that’s supposed to be his home but it feels far from it. Staring at faces that are his family members, but he knows better. The sweet honey words that greet him whenever he arrives home from school, they mask the bitter vile words he hears when they think he isn’t listening.

_Troublemaker. Freak. A burden._

_Take him off my hands._

It only gets worse as time goes on, as he gets shuffled around from family member to family member, until one day, that fateful day, is when everything breaks.

His uncle slaps him across the face for standing up for himself.

(Or was it someone else? He doesn’t remember, but something like his blood relatives, they don’t mean anything to him anymore.)

As he lays on the cold ground, the sting on his face starting to settle in, listening to this person scream at him, the anger that he has held down for all this time starts to well up.

_I wish I could engulf everything around me in crimson flame._

It was a childish wish, at first thought, something that he threw into the void of his mind.

But, what he didn’t expect, was _something_ in the void respond back to him.

_Then engulf it all._

First he’s on his hands. His knees. His feet.

_Engulf it all._

This person gets into his face, starts to scream at him, but all those words are blocked out by this overwhelming warmth in his body, something that starts in his chest and spreads all the way throughout his body, all the way to his fingers and toes.

_Burn._  
_ Burn it all._  
_ Until all there is, is ashes._

The sounds in the room halt suddenly, silence hanging in the air, and he notices this person looking down. He follows those eyes.

In his hand, it’s small but it is there. A beautiful red and gold flame flickers in his palm.

_Burn._  
_ Burn._  
_ Burn._

He gives into the voice.

_Burn._

The cold cramped apartment that he was in just seconds before now engulfed in flames, the reds and golds spread throughout to paint such a beautiful picture. His family member now cowers in the corner, begging for his life on his hands and knees.

He raises his hand up in the air, and from it emerges the head of a dragon, one that snakes protectively around his body, one whose warm flames heals the bruise on his face.

He almost gives in.  
But then he hears the distant noise of sirens.

He stares at this beggar coldly, yet with enough rage to burn him to cinders. He gently cups the chin of the flaming dragon in his hands.

“_You, and this family can’t hurt me anymore. Goodbye_.”

On the flames of the reborn phoenix, he runs.

-  
\--  
\---

He feels a weight against his chest, a finger poking his face.

“Kaaaai.”

He opens his eyes, the images of a past that he left long ago burn away, the ashes fall deep into his mind. He lifts the jacket draped over his eyes to face the grinning blond man that lays on top of him. “Miwa, what the hell do you want?”

“Ibuki is back already. He managed to find fresh food and drinks while he was out,” Miwa says, jabbing his thumb towards the entrance of their base, the abandoned diner that the three of them have called home for the past few months.

Kai pushes Miwa off of him and sits up from the booth he was resting on. He sees the third member of their little crew push through the creaking doors, his hair tied up, sunglasses on his face. He dumps the three bags in his hands onto the table in front of them.

Miwa is the first to rummage through the bags, whistling. “Damn Ibuki, you sure hit gold! And you’re back in one piece!”

Ibuki takes off his sunglasses just in time for them to see him roll his eyes. “Unlike you two, I have better control over the urge to burn.” He turns to Kai and points to one of the bags. “I actually managed to get the ingredients for beef stroganoff while I was out. We should make it now before some of it goes bad.”

Kai smiles. “Thank you Ibuki. I was starting to miss food that didn’t come out of cans.”

The three of them take the bags and shuffle over to the counter and the kitchen. While Miwa neglects to help out anymore and instead spins around in an annoying creaky bar stool, Kai and Ibuki set up in the kitchen.

“I can start the stove by myself, you know,” Kai mumbles as he searches through the broken down cabinets for a skillet.

“Did you already forget the last time you said that?” Ibuki says. He points up towards the ceiling, where a hole is covered up with wooden planks, the surrounding tile burnt to a crisp. “Keeping this base is our highest priority.”

Kai can’t argue with that. “Fine.” He watches Ibuki focus intently on the stove and after a minute, a small white flame emerges from underneath the skillet.

“Oi, Ibuki!” Miwa jeers, who was watching them through the opening between the counter and kitchen. “You say you have the best control out of the three of us, but you sure did have to furrow your brows for one tiny flame.”

Ibuki grits his teeth, but only proves Miwa’s point when his entire hand erupts in white flames, when usually Miwa’s words barely annoy him. “Miwa…”

Before Ibuki could burn Miwa, who starts to walk backwards with a worried look on his face, mumbling apologizes, Kai clasps his hand onto Ibuki’s shoulder. “Ibuki, keeping our base is our highest priority. Take it outside if you want.”

The white flames on Ibuki’s hand die out, and his cheeks start to tint pink at having the words he just said moments before be repeated back to him, his head dipped low. “Sorry Kai. It’s just...we haven't really let loose in a little bit."

Kai sighs, turning to the cooking food in the skillet, poking at it with a spatula. Ibuki does have a point; for the past month they’ve been keeping to themselves, avoiding both the city and the other Burnish groups that roam around in the desert. Sometimes, when the roar of the dragon in his head gets too loud, he traverses to the most isolated part of the desert and burns, scorching the sand, until the dragon turns quiet.

But Ibuki is a little different from him and Miwa, while his flames are the weakest of the three, his control over it is the strongest, to the point where sometimes he thinks he lost the spark.

So, for Ibuki to admit that keeping control is getting harder, then--

“You’re right...we should talk about it over food…”

\---

The beef stroganoff ends up better than even Kai expected, for such a run down kitchen, and he smiles at the faces of Miwa and Ibuki, whose eyes burn brighter and brighter with each bite.

“It’s been...so long since I tasted your cooking Kai.” Miwa wipes his watering eyes with his sleeve. “It’s still so good.”

“Are you implying that my cooking isn’t good when it’s canned?” Kai says. He tries to act annoyed, but it’s hard with the smile on his face. It _has_ been a long time since they’ve managed to gather enough ingredients to make any home cooking.

As the eating starts to slow down and their plates get cleaner, they move on to discuss what their next step is in surviving this world.

The conversation, however, turns south when Ibuki starts to talk about the other Burnish groups that live in these desert lands.

“I think we should ally with one of the top groups...with either the Violet Burnish leader or the Blue Burnish leader.”

Miwa snorts. “If we were any other group, I would agree with you, but it’s hard when our leader over here has bad blood with the both of them. Look at him.” He uses his fork to poke Kai’s face, whose scowl grows deeper and deeper as the thought of allying with either of them plagues his mind. “Is allying with any of the smaller groups off the table then?”

“It’s something to look into, but our chance of survival is highest with those two groups.” Ibuki turns to Kai, who looks at him bitterly. “You personally know the Violet Burnish right? Perhaps we can strike a deal with him.”

Kai sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. He knows Ibuki means well, that he doesn’t know the history as well as Miwa, but the roar of the dragon starts to echo loudly in his mind. “I refuse to crawl back to him for a deal. He burns everything in his path, doesn’t care what innocent lives may cross it. We aren’t murderers, Ibuki.”

Miwa shrugs. “And there you have it Ibuki. Although, you might hate to hear this Kai, but I wouldn’t mind allying with the Blue Burnish. I mean…” He starts to pick at his face. “He may poke at your buttons a lot, but he’s not a bad person. We kind of owe him anyways.”

“You mean, _you_ owe him Miwa.” Ibuki mumbles. “If it wasn’t for his intervention, the government would’ve sent your ass to prison.”

Kai does his best to push the dragon’s roar down, breathes in, breathes out. The Blue Burnish...he doesn’t know him as well as the Violet Burnish. In fact, he doesn’t even know the man’s name or face. But their morals align, he burns with mercy, fights against the government, even though he fights with him every time their flames cross. Charismatic as well, as a lot of the Burnish rally behind him.

“There’s something off about the Blue Burnish though, that I don’t like.” Ibuki adds. “He’s always one step ahead of the government, effortlessly breaking our people out of prison. He might have an ally within the government. And while it can help us greatly, who knows when it might turn against us.”

“We should...we should finish the talk tomorrow…” Kai interrupts, stumbling out of his seat, holding his head. It was a mistake to talk about this; even thinking about _him_ causes the dragon within to boil and flare. Thinking about those time spent together...in public and private...when he too burnt down everything in his path with no regards to what he did burn…

“Go release some steam and we can decide how to go about this tomorrow,” Miwa whispers to him, patting him on the back. He can clearly see the worry in his eyes, as the one who knows the most. “We can hold down the fort. If you aren’t back within the hour, we’ll go look for you.”

Kai nods. “Thank you, Miwa. Please excuse me…”

-  
\--  
\---

He rides out as far as he can get from civilization, away from their base, away from the city, away from other groups. In the middle of nowhere, it's where he feels most at ease.

_Engulf it all._

By the time he's gotten there, his thoughts of _him_ have already receded, but the dragon roars all the same. He stumbles to the ground, holding his head, as everything in his sight begins to sear with reds and golds.

_Engulf it all._

Even he too burns within the flames of his own fire, but it never hurts him. It's hot, yes, but he's fine with that. The warmth is comforting to him as it envelops his body, like the gentle touch of a parent.

_That's right,_ Kai thinks as he holds the fire in his palms. Through everything, ever since that day, this fire, the roar of the dragon, it's always been there for him.

Kai closes his hands, and the fire that engulfs the sands vanish when he realizes that someone is watching him. He pulls his hands to his face and lets the flames form the Burnish armor to mask his identity.

He turns around to face someone sitting on a motorcycle. At first, he thinks they are Burnish as well, as their face is covered like his, but on closer inspection, it's just a regular motorcycle helmet that looks like Burnish armor. It's a full human.

"What do you want?" Kai asks, the warmth still at his fingertips.

"You are...the Solidarity Flame, right? The strongest flames in the desert?" speaks a small voice from under the helmet.

Kai draws closer to the motorcyclist. "Those are some names the others call me. But you haven't answered my question."

The motorcyclist stands up, and picks out a folder from the trunk underneath the seat. They hold it out to him. "All the Burnish respect you. Even my friend sings high praise of your strength. So I felt it was only right to warn you that the government knows where your base is and are arriving to capture you tomorrow morning at dawn. They're going full force too."

_He’s always one step ahead of the government, effortlessly breaking our people out of prison. He might have an ally within the government._

"Are you the ally of the Blue Burnish?" Kai asks as he flips through the papers. He's surprised by how detailed the profiles are of him, Miwa, and Ibuki, and that the plans listed don't seem to be false.

The motorcyclist nods. "Yes. I work for the government, but I use the knowledge that I gain there to help the Burnish. I've seen...everything. As much as I would love to quit, my friend says the knowledge is too valuable."

"I see…"

_And while it can help us greatly, who knows when it might turn against us._

Kai wants to test this possible ally. He wants to test their resolve.

As he draws even closer, his flames begin to react, curling around the two of them, licking at the feet of this stranger. They curl around his arm, hardening it in Burnish armor, the tips of his fingers turning into dragon's claws. He wraps those claws around their throat, tightly enough for no escape. "You, a full human, following me, a vile Burnish, out here in the middle of nowhere, where no one can hear your cries. How risky of you. How do you know I won't burn you to ashes?"

"I don't," the stranger says, their voice not faltering, not cracking, even a tiny bit. "I'm willing to take that risk to help others."

Thanks to the flames that dance around them, Kai can see past the visor into the stranger's eyes.

They are firm. They are full of resolve. And they do not falter. They are eyes that burn into his soul even stronger than his own flames.

For the first time, the dragon withdraws from such a blinding light.

With a wave of Kai's hand, the flames vanish and he pulls back his armored arm. The dragon roars, but for entirely different reasons now.

_What an interesting fellow._

"Thank you for the warning. I will go back and tell the other two and leave before morning. We'll meet again, I hope," Kai says, as the flames behind him start to form his bike.

The interesting stranger hops on their own bike. "I'm sure we will, for you are the vanguard of the Burnish."

The dragon soars as the two head their own way, looking forward to when their paths cross again.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are appreciated (i do read comments and i do enjoy them)


End file.
